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Imperial stouts are almost without exception very dark brown bordering on black. That’s always been the way of it: lots of dark malts makes the beer dark. Then BrewDog's Abstrackt AB:08 came along and upset the order of things. You wouldn’t call it blond (strawberry blond, perhaps), but it certainly throws you off by pouring a deep orange-amber with a thick off-white head.

Now that your eyes have been deceived, it’s time to trick your sense of smell. Coffee is the first thing that hits, sending your mind spinning back to a bottle of Mikkeller Koppi Coffee IPA, only this beer’s more intense and sweeter. The aroma is of maple syrup, chocolate, oranges, oak, and the faintest hint of licorice. Despite its hefty ABV, there’s no obvious booze. The nose is nothing short of glorious. You can sniff it for hours.

By now you’re so confused anything could happen. This is a glutinous beer with a thick, warming body, and it’s very sweet. There’s more than a suggestion of an American barley wine with chocolate and coffee added. The finish has caramel and candy floss and is peppery; it ends a little hot.

What does one eat with a deconstructed Blond Imperial stout? Nothing at all, perhaps. It’s massive enough to be enjoyed on its own in a snifter glass (remember to let it warm up to get the most out of it). However, the sweet syrup notes blended with chocolate and coffee make this a fascinating dessert and cheese beer. What about a black licorice crème brûlée or an odoriferous Gorgonzola, Stilton, or aged English cheddar?

Six key ingredients went into this truly novel beer: oats, licorice, heavily toasted oak chips, cocoa, coffee, and smoked malt. The oats help give the beer its incredibly thick, luscious mouthfeel, and the cocoa was grated into the beer after fermentation to allow it to stew. The beer then was aged on coffee beans to extract the flavor without transferring any of the color, and for good measure it also was aged on toasted oak chips for some roasted mellowness. For many reasons this is one of the most enjoyable BrewDog beers available.

Chatham Brewing is run by garagistes. They started brewing in an old garage just off Main Street in Chatham, New York. There was a small sign on the sidewalk that pointed visitors to the brewery down a crooked alley. In an old garage, there were several mash tuns, several tanks, tons of small and large kegs, and boxes of growlers. There they brewed their beer and sold it in kegs and growlers. People lined up, tasted the beer, and whatever beer they wanted, Chatham filled a growler with it. It was a rustic scene with no tasting room or pretty setting. It was garage beer, and the beer was great. Word spread, and Chatham became more and more popular.

In 2013, the brewery moved across the street into its current digs. One morning, armed with large tractors with forklifts on their fronts, the entire brewing operation was moved 600 feet. It might as well have been six miles for all that was needed to move the copper works. They did it early on a Sunday morning while traffic was low and people were still asleep.

Since then, their expansion has skyrocketed. The old brew works are now on display in the tasting room. They are making small-batch seasonal beers. The new brewery out back dwarfs the old machinery. Chatham Brewing has taken a huge step forward to the big leagues of New England brewing.

One of the throwbacks to the old days is the porter, the beer that made Chatham famous. The label shows a big puff of black smoke billowing from an old steam locomotive. The porter is a nod to Chatham’s railroading past, when it was a rail hub for northeastern New York. The porter derives its deep color and flavor from chocolate malt.

When poured into a pint glass, the beer shows a good deep dark rich brown-black color. It has a nice frothy beige head that sticks around a while and provides a pretty lacing as you drink it. Very nice.

Chatham Porter smells almost like an iced coffee at first whiff. Roasted coffee and dark baking cocoa come through big. There’s also a touch of hops and a nice smokiness, with a small amount of spice and a hint of anise. The flavor is excellent, with medium body and low carbonation. It starts off with a lovely chocolate malted note, but at a second taste, rich coffee and dark chocolate notes come through loud and clear. A hint of toffee or brown sugar is also present. This is a dry porter with very little or no hint of sweetness. A beautiful, creamy finish lingers on the palate. Coffee and chocolate come through on a nice long finish that lasts and lasts. This is a very easy-drinking beer.

Scott Vaccaro was a student at Villanova when he decided to become a brewer. His parents objected when he opted to quit college and open a brewery. Luckily, Scott was as hardheaded about opening the brewery as he is about quality and innovation. Captain Lawrence Brewing Company is one of the best in the valley. The top four executives are all named Vaccaro, but what matters is the beer, from classic bottled beers to extravagant, cutting-edge brews that wine experts collect.

This beer is brewed with a huge amount of malt to give it a big roasty and smoky flavor. They say it’s as big and deep as a cold winter’s night, and the 15% ABV says they probably aren’t far from wrong. Frost Monster is brewed with two-row black malt, roasted barley, oats, crystal malt, and chocolate malt. That’s a lot of malt, and they use Columbus hops as well.

The beer pours with a big latte-colored head but without an extreme amount of lacing, which is surprising given the body. There’s no question what the backbone of this big, brawny beer is: malt. It’s big and roasty, and chocolate and dark stewed fruits such as dark cherry (like in a Bavarian Black Forrest Cake), come across on the nose. But don’t be fooled; this is all about the malt despite the aromas of coffee, mocha, bitter chocolate, baking cocoa, and a hint of sweet chocolate. This beer provides silky smooth drinking with a big mouthfeel. However, despite the high alcohol content, it is easy to drink. It’s not the heaviest Imperial you’ve ever had, but there’s plenty of taste and a nice long-lingering finish.

The beer would be incredible poured not just into a pint glass but into a snifter, because there are lots of good smells. It would go beautifully next to a cheese plate, just as it might stand up to a chocolate brownie sundae. This is a very impressive Imperial-style beer.

Some of the best coffee beers tend to be Imperial stouts, but a good alternative is a coffee porter. One of the best of that style is Wolaver’s Alta Gracia Coffee Porter, a well-balanced, full-flavored coffee porter that’s tasty and easy to drink.

This beer has an opaque black body. It forms a small tan soapy head that quickly fizzles away like a soda and doesn’t leave much lacing. There is a distinct coffee aroma as soon as the cap on the bottle is popped. Medium roasty notes are quickly evident.

One thing you notice about non-Imperial coffee porters and stouts is that the coffee flavor seems to fade fast. The first swig of Wolaver’s Alta Gracia Coffee Porter provides a lot of roasty coffee and roasted barley flavors, but the coffee seems to homogenize with the rest of the palate rather quickly. It’s a lovely bittersweet taste of authentic coffee and vanilla creamer (the beer is brewed with vanilla beans). There is more of the same through the middle, with a burst of bitterness on the finish.

Oddly, there is a slight vegetal character in the aftertaste. It’s easily overlooked and not distracting unless you concentrate on it. You’ll enjoy the coffee and general sweet flavors of this beer. It’s got a straightforward palate, but the tastes work quite well in the end.

You’ll be surprised by the mouthfeel and body of this beer. It is on the thinner, less carbonated side, but that enables it to be comfortable in the mouth and leads to a smooth finish. You’ll also be surprised to find that Alta Gracia Coffee Porter is only 5% ABV, as it seems quite robust for the weight. You could drink two for dessert and not feel guilty about it.